Language Learning Style Models - MYTH or VALID? #7

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[yourfirstsecondlanguage]

Okay, watched it now. I hope to make a video on this topic myself actually but my 'free time' is quite fickle and fleeting so I'll leave some brief thoughts here. So firstly its clear you've spent far more time contemplating this model then I have and you've foreseen the common critiques that come about immediately. As I also said before, I certainly don't cherish the idea of being a self styled 'skeptic' or 'debunker.'

I also have a slight bias, not towards the VARK model per se but towards diversity between people, and less reductive views of how things work, so at the very least, I don't have a bias against it.

I think a big argument in favour of it is that most people here are learning languages for leisure, so whether it is 'real' or not, there are certainly different styles of learning which we feel more comfortable with, and repeatedly making yourself feel uncomfortable when studying something for leisure is often a sure way of quitting. Interest also = more thought including when you're just day dreaming and thus retention. So a method that is theoretically less efficient could sometimes work better in practice.

An argument against for me though is that infants seem to learn languages in the same way- they hear lots of sounds, get used to the tones, rhythms etc, and then match them to the context of what they see. Of course we arent learning languages as kids, but I think successful adult language learning should be mostly similar, with the added advantage that we can read.

My concern with learning styles which you've sort of forseen but still remain with me to an extent is that people might forgo activities which are very beneficial. I think both listening and reading are important, though I guess you could do a higher proportion of one depending on your 'style/preference' and I think you'd still be successful. Okay that turned into a bit of a lengthy ramble at some point I hope to make an actual video on this!

[yourfirstsecondlanguage]

Haha my first 'response video'! Thank you! I haven't watched it yet, doing so now with an open mind

[londonerlearnsjapanese]

I do believe that different styles exist and that an optimal one can exists. The pigeonhole phenomena is real and I've only recently come to appreciate it since meeting engineers.
As for language learning in a class setting ... TPR all day and I have zero regard for anyone's preferences lol

[sklanguage]

We seldom get to choose which way we learn
To ride a bike - kinesthetics
Grandma’s family stories -auditory
To understand street signs -visual

People acquire language via listening and reading. People who can’t learn to read, or don’t want to read, can learn via listening only. If you are over age six, it would only benefit you to learn to read the language. Listening is essential no matter what.

Memorizing vocabulary lists and grammar rules has limited usefulness, at best. There is no interesting variation in how people acquire language. Steven Krashen is correct. We all acquire language the same way.

Fidgeting while reading isn’t learning language kinesthetically.